10th edtion CIFF – 10-14 April 2024

Rafiki (2019 Feature Film)

Marisol Gómez Mouakad | Puerto Rico, Mexico | 2016 | color | DCP | 90 min | Spanish, English | e.s.

"Good Kenyan girls become good Kenyan wives”, is what Kena and Ziki have heard all their young lives. But they want fun and adventure. And apparently not to be ‘good’, because they fall in love, to the dismay of those around them. A sparkling film in 'Afrobubblegum' style, in the words of director Wanuri Kahiu.

“Good Kenyan girls become good Kenyan wives”, is what Kena and Ziki have heard all their young lives. And that getting a mortgage is the dream of every normal Kenyan. But Kena and Ziki want more. They want adventure and real love, not a dull existence as an obedient wife in the suburbs. It’s not until they fall in love with one another that they find out just how conservative the world around them really is. The relationship between these two young women forms the warm, beating heart of this sparkling, colorful film.

‘Afrobubblegum’ is what director Wanuri Kahiu calls her style, and the production company of which she is co-founder. In the words of the young maker, this stands for “fun, fierce and frivolous African art”. Like its two protagonists, this film had to overcome considerable resistance after being banned by Kenyan censors. Kahiu contested this decision and finally won in the Kenyan High Court.

Place: The Cinemas 5

Date: 11 April 2019

Time: 21:45

Duration: 1:10

Place: The Cinemas 5

Date: 13 April 2019

Time: 21:30

Duration: 1:10

Year in
Festival

2019

Director

Wanuri Kahiu

Camera

Cinematography

Cast

Samantha Mugatsia
Sheila Munyiva
Neville Misati
Jimmy Gathu
Patricia Amira
Muthoni Gathecha
Dennis Musyoka

Country

Kenya
South Africa

Editor

Isabelle Dedieu

Language

English
Swahili

Length

90′

Producer

Steven Markovitz

Production Company

Big World Cinema
Rinkel Film

Production Design

Arya Lalloo

Sales

MPM Premium

Scenario

Wanuri Kahiu
Jenna Bass

Year of Production

2018

Wanuri KAHIU (1980, Kenia) is filmmaker en oprichter van AFROBUBBLEGUM. Haar eerste speelfilm From a Whisper (2008) won de prijs voor Best Narrative Feature op het Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles 2010 en vijf prijzen op de African Movie Academy Awards. In 2010 ging Kahiu’s korte sciencefictionfilm Pumzi in wereldpremière tijdens het Amerikaanse Sundance filmfestival en won onder andere de Award of the City of Venice tijdens het filmfestival van Venetië. Rafiki (2018) werd geselecteerd voor Un Certain Regard in Cannes, waar het ook meedong naar de Queer Palm. 
 

 

Filmography

Ras Star (2007, short), From a Whisper (2008), For Our Land (2009, doc), Pumzi (2010, short), Who Am I? (2016, short doc), Rafiki (2018)